ourselves
UK /aʊəˈsɛlvz/ · US /aʊɚˈsɛlvz/ pronoun
Forms case of we
- pronoun (reflexive) Us; the group including the speaker as the object of a verb or preposition when that group also is the subject. “We should keep this for ourselves.”
- pronoun (emphatic) Intensifies the subject as the group including the speaker, especially to indicate that no one else satisfies the predicate or needs to be included. “We did it ourselves.”
- pronoun (colloquial) Referring to everyone being addressed. “Come on everyone! Let's get ourselves up and out of bed, please.”
- pronoun (colloquial, may seem patronising) Referring to an individual person being addressed, especially a person in the speaker's care; also ourself. “Hello Mrs Miggins. Did we manage to wash ourselves this morning?”
Synonyms
Etymology
Morphologically our + -selves.
Webster’s 1913
- pronoun ; sing. Ourself (we; also, alone in the predicate, in the nominative or the objective case.
- pronoun An adjective suffix meaning full of, abounding in, having, possessing the qualities of, like; as in gracious, abounding in grace; arduous, full of ardor; bulbous, having bulbs, bulblike; riotous, poisonous, piteous, joyous, etc.
Etymology [OF. -ous, us, -os, F. -eux, fr. L. -osus, and -us. Cf. - ose.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ourselves”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details